This is with reference to the debate that is going in DV on Tamil Nadu. (DV edit Oct.1 ’91: “Aryan fate will be decided on TamilSoil”.
The elitist elements among the Sudras (the non-Dwija or non-cross- threaded Hindus) of Tamil Nadu took to Periyarism for the sake of convenience. The TN Brahmins had been more arrogant than their counterparts in other parts of India. Periyarism offered them a platform to save themselves from humiliation. Periyar’s greatness was that he never cared for political power. He stood for certain ideas and for a mental revolution among the Shudras. It is his followers who have failed.
Brahmin-baiting: They had neither the mind nor the strategy to take Untouchables into their fold. While they were preoccupied with atheism and Brahmin-baiting, the Brahmins lured the Untouchables by supporting the Congress and Gandhi who were verbally opposed to untouchability and staged temple- entry stunts. It never occured to Periyarists that uniting all Shudras (Nadars, Mudaliars, Pillais, Naidus etc.) was more important than atheism. Some of them even had a vested interest in untouchability since it was the Untouchables who toiled in their lands as landless labourers. They believed in single-digit inequality while the Brahmins believed in double-digit inequality.
Muslims alienated: While Gandhi and the Congress brandished secularism and attracted Muslims, Periyarists not only never took Muslims into account but even alienated them because of their atheism. The simple truth that the best way to liquidate brahminism is to forge the unity of shudras, Muslims and Untouchables never dawned on them. Periyar questioned the existence of god in the context of perverse brahminical concepts of god. Periyar had endorsed the Islamic concept of God which ensured absolute spiritual and social equality of all humans.
The Periyarist arm-chair atheism and atheistic dialectics got diluted and turned less and less fascinating over the years. Their atheism was not action-oriented. They never made any temple a target for demolition in which case there would have been an electrifying effect on untouchables as all of whom had suffered humiliation in temples. They did not devise a counter-strategy to expose the temple-entry stunts of Brahmins and the Congress. They gave no programme for the Untouchables.
Periyar praise for Islam: When some persons wrote to Periyar questioning his speech at Trichy on March 18 1947, he wrote an article in the Tamil weekly, Kudi Arasu, wherein he advised (Salvation to Shudra Slavery- DSA 1986) BC/ ST/SCs to embrace Islam. Periyarists did not apply their mind to those refreshing ideas of Periyar. These so-called Periyarists maintained silence when “Hindu India was deeply disturbed” by a dozen Dalit families who embraced Islam at Meenakshipuram. The nazi agent, Subramanianswamy, rushed to Meenakshipuram but what did our Periyarists do?
They did nothing to spread the ideas of Periyar to other parts of India, though his views were valid to all BC/ST/SCs and to all non- Hindu people of India.
While documentaries have been made on each and every petty leader of Hindi states, and displayed on the TV by the govt. media, no documentary on Periyar, the tallest revolutionary of South India, is made and shown in the network programme.
If the Periyarists had done a good job, even the Central govt. would have honoured him in a fitting manner as it did in the case of Dr. Ambedkar. They have not taken to task the several CMs who rode to power on the waves of the popularity of Periyar’s ideas.
Periyar biography: Not even a good English biography of Periyar was published by the Periyarists. Periyar’s work has a message and a lesson for the whole country. Tamil Nadu has been free from Hindu-Muslim clashes. Why? In Tamil Nadu it is not the Muslims, but the Brahmins that form the worst attacked community. Hindu- Muslim clashes have been occurring mostly in areas where Brahmins and brahminism command respect. All those who are never tired of talking about the communal harmony should take note of this.
STATE TERRORISM IN TAMIL NADU
P.R. KUPPUSWAMY, ADVOCATE, KARUR, & VICE-PRESIDENT, PERIYAR LEGAL AID CENTRE, MADRAS
Tamil Nadu has been witnessing a sort of state terrorism. It arrested a former Home Secretary, R. Nagarajan, IAS, under TADA after its failure to convince the people about his involvement in a case in which a Madras weekly office was attacked by goondas resulting in loss of two lives. In fact, it had come to light that such attack was organised by a minister “to teach a lesson” to the paper for having criticised the Chief Minister.
About a dozen newspapers and periodicals like Kedayam, Puthia Jenanayakam, Rajarishi, Puthia Kalacharam, Kazhugu, Nakkeeran etc. are taken to task. Electricity supply is being cut. Printers are threatened. Govt. orders for printing textbooks are withdrawn, distributors are intimated. Even legal news agents are threatened by police.
Lawyers threatened: All stree-plays, street meetings and hall meetings to espouse the cause of Eelam Tamils and criticise price rise, govt. economic policies, unemployment etc. are banned. At Cuddalore, those who pasted wall posters criticising price hike were arrested.
Even lawyers and relatives of those detained under TADA are threatened by the police and two lawyers were arrested under TADA. This fear atmosphere has affected the judiciary also. TADA detenues and other/accused in the Rajiv Gandhi murder case are tortured. An aged person, Gnana Sebastian, was pulped. Anantharaj was tortured while in judicial custody. The police use foul language and filthy words. They even abused Periyar EV Ramaswamy while assauling those from the Dravidar Khazhagam and Rationalist movement. A noted Periyarist, Arivu Perarivalan, is reported to be dying in the police custody.
False cases: Even an ex-Minister (both in MGR and Karunanidhi cabinet), Mrs. Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan, (along with her husband Jagadeesan) were not spared. The police planted false cases that explosives were recovered from her house at the time of her arrest.
Tamil spirit crushed: One Dalit leader, Cheppan, was arrested for allegedly criticising a Shankarachari. The pity is all bail applications filed by the TADA detenues have been summarily dismissed by the Court.
Refugee camps for Lankan Tamils have become open jails. A special police outfit, anti-Tamil Chauvinist wing, called Tansit, has been set up to destroy Tamil national spirit. Under Jayalalitha, hell is let loose.
